NGC Hires Vet Cascio

National Geographic Channel Thursday named cable-network veteran Michael Cascio senior vice president of production, overseeing production of all programming for the network.

Cascio’s last job was executive vice president and general manager at Discovery Communications Inc.’s Animal Planet, where he launched the hits Animal Precinct and King of the Jungle, Nat Geo said.

While at A&E, where he rose to senior vice president of programming, he helped launch signature series Biography. He also served a stint as vice president of cable programming development at NBC News.

Nat Geo said Cascio comes on board just as the network gets ready for an aggressive fall schedule. The network, owned by National Geographic Television & Film and Fox Cable Networks, has seen its distribution rise above 50 million homes.